Reading Naruto's True Nindo
by 4powerd
Summary: What happens when four people close to Naruto who have died are given the chance to watch his life unfold? (Reading Fic, thanks to Kyuub123 for the great story)
1. Chapter 1

**Naruto Belongs to Kisimoto, Thanks to Kyuubi123 for permission to use his story.**

**Chapter 1**

The pure lands, that was what they called them, the land you went to after you died.

Here we find four people.

A yellow haired man with increidble spiked hair.

A long, red haired women.

An old man, with grey hair and wrinkles.

Another old man, this time with spiked white hair.

These people were Minato, Kushina, Jiraiya and Sarutobi. They all had one thing in common.

They were dead.

In the middle of them was a small plain looking book that had a note attacked.

_To Minato and Kushina, a chance to see how your son grew up, to Jiraiya and Sarutobi, a chance to see Naruto in a happier enviroment._

"Should...should we read it" Minato was...conflicted, on one hand he would do anything to see his son, or even read about him, but the note made it clear that this Naruto wasn't the same as the one his sensei had taught.

"Defintly" was Kushina's adament reply.

It was well know that argueing with Kushina was futile, so Minato merely picked up the book and flipped to the beginning.

**Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**It is said that one little, seemingly irrelevant event can have enormous consequences. Naruto Uzumaki was about to learn this lesson, and he had no idea what effects this would have on his future.**

**Young Naruto had just failed the genin exam for the second time.**

"Twice?! He failed twice?!" That was Kushina

**He had tried hard but still couldn't pull it off. He saw the sad look in Iruka-sensei's eyes when he had to tell Naruto that he had failed, but he could not and would not make an exception for the young eleven year old.**

Sarutobi frowned, something didn't seem right, as far as he knew, Naruto was trained just like the others, to fail twice in a row didn't make sense

**Naruto was now sitting on the head of the fourth Hokage looking over the village.**

"I think he knew, subciously at least" Sarutobi answered Minato's unasked question

**He was very sad but tried to look at the bright side.**

**'At least I won't have to be with ninja older than I am.' He thought. However, he knew that if he failed one more time than he wouldn't even be paired with ninja his own age. He would be the only student to ever fail three consecutive times. Most had dropped out of the academy after failing the second time, but Naruto refused to give up.**

Minato smiled, "Don't give up, I know you can do it"

**He stood up and yelled to the village, even if no one could hear him, "I will not give up, and I will never surrender. I am Naruto Uzumaki and I will be the Hokage someday!" he yelled.**

Sarutobi and Jiraiya slowly looked at Minato and Kushina, Minato had the deceny to at least look shepish, while Kushina merely glared back at them

**"Oh really?" said a voice behind Naruto. Naruto turned around and saw a man completely wrapped in a black cloak that hid every feature about him.**

Everyone was shocked at the appearance of this man, thought for different reasons.

Minato and Kushina were worried for their son's safety, while Sarutobi and Jiraiya were concerned about how someone snuck in the village like that so easily.

**"Who are you!" yelled Naruto fearfully, afraid that this man would hurt him.**

"He better not!" Kushina growled, she didn't care that she was dead, if this man so much as touched her son, she would find a way to get him.

**"So you want to be Hokage do you?" asked the man, completely ignoring the question.**

**"What's it to you?!" yelled Naruto. He was sick and tired of others putting down his dream.**

Jiraiya smiled fondly, "He was always going on about that, he never gave it a rest"

**"I just want to know why you would want to be the Hokage. Few have that as their dream and I find it intriguing that one so young would have a dream so big." The man said.**

**"Well if you must know." Naruto said while puffing out his chest and trying to look confident "I want to be hokage so that everyone in this village will stop treating me like I'm a nobody and finally give me some respect."**

"So that's it" Sarutobi muttered, he knew Naruto had always had such a dream, but his reasons were unknown to him

**The man simply looked at Naruto for a while, saying nothing. "That's stupid." He said.**

They weren't sure what to expect, but it wasn't that.

**"WHAT DO YOU KNOW I WILL BE HOKAGE NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU LAUGH AND TELL ME THAT IT IS IMPOSSIBLE!" Naruto yelled.**

Jiraiya laughed softly, "That's just like him, he would defend his dream to death, and he wouldn't let anyone get away with insulting it, even if you're a women, or a Sannin"

Sarutobi caught his meaning, "He didn't..."

Jiraiya merely nodded, "He did, after you...died, we went to find Tsunade and convince her to become Hokage, she started badmouthing the position and he immeditaly picked a fight with her"

Minato looked shocked "He picked a fight, with Tsunade?!"

Kushina glared at Jiraiya "And you let him?!"

Jiraiya immeditaly held his hands up in surrender "I tried to stop him, and it didn't last long before we had...other problems to deal with"

"Everyone calm down, let's keep reading" Sarutobi, the ever present voice of reason stated

**"Now, now I never said that you wouldn't be the Hokage, I simply meant that your reason for being the Hokage was stupid." The man said.**

"You know, he's got a point, being Hokage is far more then simple recogintion" Minato stated

**"Huh?" the confused Naruto said.**

**"Why do you care what other think about you? Don't you have anyone who already acknowledges you?" the man asked.**

"He does, right? Please tell me my little Naruto has some friends" Kushina, in a complete 180 from her earlier personality, was now looking pleadingly at Jiraiya and Sarutobi, who could only look down in response

**Naruto thought about it and the faces of Iruka, the third Hokage, and the people at the ramen stand came to mind.**

Minato and Kushina frowned at that, that was it? That's all their son had for friendship?

**"Yeah, I guess I do have some people who acknowledge me." He said.**

**"Then that should be enough. I have seen you around the village and see your pranks and very loud personality. You do all that to gain some form of recognition don't you?" the man asked sadly.**

**Naruto was shocked that this man knew so much about him. Most of the villagers didn't know and didn't care to know anything about him.**

That sent Kushina into a mixture of sadness and rage, and she turned to Sarutobi "What the hell Sarutobi!?" They were taken aback from her bluntness. "You were there when I had the burden, you saw how they treated me because of the damn Fox! And now they're doing to my son, did you do ANYTHING about it?!"

Sarutobi merely looked down in sadness and regret "I tried, heaven's know I tried, but even I can't change everyone's mind..."

After that Kushina calmed down and felt regret from her outburst. She knew that he probably did do everything he could.

**"Yeah, well at least when I do those things then they acknowledge me." He said.**

Kushina felt a pang of sadness as she recognized herself in those words.

Jiraiya looked upset as well, "I though the note said that this Naruto was happier?"

Sarutobi looked at his student "Some things can't be changed, no matter how hard we try, his life is a like a fever, it must get worse before it can become better"

**The man looked at Naruto, and even though Naruto couldn't see his face he could tell that this man had a sad look on his face.**

**"Naruto, you shouldn't do things like that to gain their recognition or acknowledgement. It's meaningless." He said.**

_'Wrong thing to say' _Sarutobi thought, knowing how Naruto would react to that

**"WHAT DO YOU KNOW?! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE LOOKED AT AS IF YOU ARE TRASH OR SOME DEMON! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO HAVE PEOPLE LOOK AT YOU AS IF YOU ARE NOTHING!" he yelled infuriated at the man for telling him that what he was doing was meaningless.**

Kushina knew were he was coming from, she too had felt like that once.

**"Naruto, the only people whose opinion should matter to you are those who actually care for you and care about you. I have seen the villagers. They don't care about you and thus you shouldn't try to gain their approval or their respect. You already have the approval of a few people who actually care for you. They should be the ones that motivate your goal and dreams.**

Everyone smiled at that, it was very true

**Tell me, do you even know what being the Hokage entails?" the man said.**

**Naruto had to stop and think. All he really knew was that the Hokage was the best ninja in the village and that the position was one of great respect.**

Minato and Sarutobi laughed, "It's way more complicated then that" Minato said

**"No, not really." Naruto said.**

**"You should find out. You may see that it really isn't the job you want. But if it is then you will be striving for it for the right reasons." The man said.**

**The man turned to leave, but suddenly turned to the boy. "You say that you will never give up and never surrender, and these are admirable traits for a ninja, however is that your true nindo because if it is then you will want to change it." The man said.**

**"Huh" Naruto said.**

**"Never giving up and never surrendering are good traits but is that all you want to be known for?" the man asked.**

**Naruto looked at the village, deep in thought. What the man said had made sense. Why did he care what people who didn't give a crap about him thought of him? Why should he care about their recognition when he had people who already recognized him and accepted him?**

Kushina smiled hearing that, her life had started to get better once she started thinking like that, and she hoped his would too.

**He didn't like being known as an idiot or a fool yet he had believed that even bad recognition was better than known. He had a lot to think about. He turned to the man.**

**"I think that I will see the old man now. Maybe I can find out more about what it truly means to be the Hokage."**

Sarutobi smiled, wishing the boy had asked him that.

**The boy said. "By the way what's your name?"**

Jiraiya was suddenly more intrested "Yeah, come on, what's mystery boy's name?"

**"I am glad that what I said got through to you. Be the best you can be and don't worry about what anyone but the people who care about you says. If they are proud of you and you are proud of yourself then that's all that matters. If the villagers change their attitude and decide to acknowledge you then that's fine, but if they don't then that's their choice."**

"Did he just ignore him entirely?" Minato said, confused

"I think he did" Kushina replied

**The man said. "Oh and about my name." he said.**

**"Yeah?" Naruto said**

**"That is a secret!" the man said as he suddenly disappeared.**

"REALLY?!" Jiraiya yelled in mock anger

**Naruto was left dumbfounded for a moment before he shook it off. He had a lot to think about and he wanted to talk to the old man.**

"This ougt be intresting" Said the same old man, he was looking forward to seeing how his alternate self would play out

**What Naruto didn't know was that that single conversation with the mysterious man would have a large effect on the future.**

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**The third Hokage was relaxing from a long day of paperwork when Naruto walked in with a contemplative look on his face.**

**"Hello Naruto, is something bothering you?" the kind leader asked.**

"It's odd seeing myself talk from the third-person" Sarutobi said

**"Hey old man." Naruto said while still looking as if in deep concentration.**

**"Is there something bothering you?" Sarutobi asked.**

**"Old man, what does it mean to be Hokage?" asked the eleven year old.**

Minato suddenly looked up at Sarutobi, "Has he ever asked you that before?"

Sarutobi shook his head, "No, but I wish he did"

**Sarutobi was stunned. In all the time he had known Naruto the child had never asked that question. "What makes you ask that Naruto?" he asked.**

**"I failed the genin exam for the second time today." He said.**

**"You aren't giving up are you?" asked the third with an expression that seemed to be equally sad as it was alarmed.**

**"No, but after I failed I went to be alone and then this man came behind me and started talking to me." Naruto said.**

**"Who was it?" asked the curios leader.**

**"I don't know, but the point is he brought to my attention that I don't really know what it means to be the Hokage. He said that I should find out if it really something I want to do." Naruto stated. "When I told him that I wanted to be Hokage because it would give me respect and acknowledgement he said that that wasn't a good reason to want to be Hokage."**

**Sarutobi looked at Naruto and saw that he really wanted a truthful answer. "He was right Naruto." He said.**

**Naruto was surprised. He had told the old man that that was his dream for a long time and yet he had never criticized it.**

"Never, I would never, it was all he had"

**"I never said anything before because I didn't want to destroy your only dream. Are you sure you want to know what it means to be the Hokage?" Sarutboi asked very seriously. "What I say may influence your decision."**

**"I want to know Hokage-sama." Naruto said looking at him with the same intensity and determination that he would soon be known for. "I want to know if the dream I am chasing is really what I want."**

**"Fine, take a seat." Sarutobi said.**

**After Naruto was seated Sarutobi closed his eyes and seemed to concentrate.**

**"To be Hokage is not a job for the faint of heart or those who are not completely dedicated to the job. Everything that transpires in the village is somehow affected by you. Every business, merchant, food vendor, and civilian falls under your jurisdiction. Most of the time you will be doing paper work that relates to these sorts of things. Every decision you make does not just affect you, it affects everyone in this village." The old man said as he rose from his chair.**

Minato and Sarutobi exchanged knowing looks, it was true, everything that had been said

**"Then there is the military. You are in command of every ninja in this village. They all must obey you and they all will follow your orders. You will be sending them on missions and you need to know what team specializes in what area as well as what team is better prepared for the mission. You need to know the strengths and weaknesses of every team as you will control how teams are made. This is very important Naruto because all of their live rest on your shoulders. If you mess up and send the wrong team in the wrong situation then good men and women will die because of your foul-up. You may have to order some ninja on missions that you know are more like suicides missions if it is necessary. You will eventually mess up and the deaths of your comrades will be on your hands, and even then you must persevere and not let the loss of life keep you from leading the village." The old man said.**

**Naruto looked at the Hokage and he saw pain in his eyes and knew that the old man had seen and made his share of mistakes and was still paying for them today.**

Sarutobi looked down sadly, "Orochimaru..."

**"Come here Naruto." Sarutobi said as he went to the window. When Naruto had joined him he asked "what do you see?"**

**Naruto looked out of the window as saw the everyday life in the village. Families were walking around, shops and stores were open, and friends were conversing.**

**"I see the village old man." He said not quite grasping what he expected him to see.**

**"That's right Naruto and when you are Hokage every man, women, and child is your responsibility. Their lives depend on the decisions that you make. As Hokage you bear the burden of carrying and protecting every person in this village even if it means giving up your life. There very well may come a time when you must make the ultimate sacrifice to protect the village. You are the guiding light for the village and everyone will look to your for guidance and leadership. To view everyone under you as precious, to place their lives on your shoulders, to protect them with your life, that is what it means to be Hokage." Sarutobi said.**

"To protect the Hidden Leaf with your life, that is the Hokage's will" Minato recited with Sarutobi noding

**Naruto looked at him with awe. He never knew that being the Hokage was such a responsibility. After hearing what the old man said he felt ashamed of how he always yelled that he would be the Hokage when he didn't have any idea what it entailed. The man was right, to be the Hokage for the simple reasons of wanting respect and acknowledgement was selfish and was a disgrace to the Hokage who had come and died for this village.**

**"Then that is what I will do." Naruto said.**

**"What do you mean Naruto?" asked the third.**

**"I will become Hokage, but for the right reasons. Another thing the man told me was that I shouldn't strive to gain the acceptance of those who hate me for no reason. As long as I am acknowledged by those who truly know and care about me than that is all I need." Naruto said with conviction in his voice.**

They all smiled at him, they were happy that Naruto was finding his own way

**"That is very good advice Naruto. If those fools don't accept you and don't make the effort to understand you than you shouldn't worry about the acceptance or their acknowledgement." Sarutobi said.**

**"Yeah, I will be Hokage to protect this village. I may not be accepted but I will protect those that are precious to me with my life." Naruto said.**

Minato smiled, "That's right my son, protect those precious to you" He looked at Kushina as he said that

**Sarutobi looked at the determined look in Naruto's face and swore that he saw an image of the fourth behind him.**

**"Are you sure Naruto it will be a lot of hard work." Sarutobi warned.**

**"I am sure, I will defend and protect everyone that is precious to me because that is my nindo, my ninja way." Naruto said.**

**"Well if you need anything then you can tell me." Sarutobi said kindly.**

Sarutobi smiled, he would always help Naruto, no matter what

**"Thanks old man, I need to do some thinking now." Naruto said as he left.**

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**Naruto walked down the street completely ignoring the looks from the villagers. Whereas before he simply pretended to ignore the looks while silently pondering their meaning, he know recognized them but simply didn't care what they meant.**

Kushina smiled, "That's the first step sweety"

**If this people didn't want to even give him a chance then he wouldn't concern himself with their opinions. He returned to the Hokage Mountain and sat in deep contemplation for a while. He knew that to become Hokage then there were some things that he would have to change about himself. He first of all had to become a shinobi, and a competent one at that. No one would follow an idiot into battle.**

Minato smiled, that was his first problem as well

**He also needed to control his temper. No one would want an impulsive leader ruled by his emotion either.**

They all looked at Kushina, who pointly looked away

**His skills sucked. He couldn't do a simple clone, his taijutsu was shaky at best, and his ninjutsu was non-existent.**

This time it was Jiraiya saw himself in Naruto's shoes, he had the same problem

**'Man, I have a lot to work on if I want to be a ninja and then Hokage.' Naruto thought.**

**"Oh well, if it was easy then anyone could do it."**

Minato laughed, "That's why it's reserved for the best" He said, looking at Jiraiya

Jiraiya merely glared "How many times do I tell you, I didn't WANT the position, I'm more then capable"

**Naruto said to himself as he headed home. Starting tomorrow he was a whole new shinobi.**

**Unbeknownst to Naruto, the man from earlier was watching him and heard what he said.**

"He's following him?" Kushina asked, warily

**"So he took my advice, Naruto uzumaki, I have a feeling that things are going to be very interesting from now on.'' He said with a smile as he vanished into the night.**

Minato closed the book, "Well, that's chapter 1, seems intresting so far, I wonder what will happen next"

**My first Reading fic! I've always liked these so I gave it a try, mostly cause my two main fics are on hold cause I got a bad case of writer's block with them, so I decided to try my hand at a reading fic**


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own Naruto, and thanks to Kyuuni123 for the awesome story.**

**Chapter 2:**

Minato set down the book and looked over, "Well, that was chapter 1, thoughts?"

Kushina smiled, "He learned quicker then I did, It took me a long time to learn to ignore the stares"

Jiraiya and Sarutobi both looked deep in thought, both neither spoke up.

Finally, after what felt like hours, Jiraiya picked the book up and flipped it to the next chapter, "I'll read"

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**Naruto woke up refreshed. "Okay time to become a better ninja. All I have to do is improve my taijutsu, work on my ninjutsu, learn at least one genjutsu, learn to create a clone, learn to better control my emotions, and pretty much change everything about me." He said becoming more annoyed toward the end of his statement.**

Everyone chuckled at.

"Learn a Genjutsu? Sorry, but you'll probably have a lot of trouble with that" Kushina said, remembering her own troubles with it.

"When I first started training him, I had to give him a complete overhaul, just so he could go par-to-par with his peers" Jiraiya said

**'How am I supposed to do that!?' he wondered. The library made it very clear that he wasn't welcome**

Sarutobi frowned at that, Naruto had never mentioned anything like that, he had never realized how much was locked away to the boy.

**and no one would be able to help him. Iruka wouldn't play favorites, the people at the ramen stand didn't know anything about being a ninja, and the old man certainly couldn't drop what he was doing and train him.**

**'I guess I'll see the old man and see what he can do to help.'**

"That's you're best bet" Minato said, nodding to Hiruzen, "You probably wouldn't be able to personally tutor him, but at least you could give him some help"

**He thought and he got dressed and left his apartment.**

**As Naruto walked toward the tower he was once again greeted with the same hateful and cold glares as before, but like last night he refused to even acknowledge the people. They didn't want to acknowledge him so he would return the treatment.**

**Naruto entered the Hokage's tower and ran into a strange female. She had purple hair in a bun, a trench coat that went to her ankles, a fishnet shirt that left little to the imagination, a tan skirt and shin guards.**

Everyone frowned at the description, the women seemed familar, but no one could tell who she was

**"Watch where you're going you brat" she said**

**Naruto's first reaction was to yell back but he was trying to reign in his emotions.**

Kushina laughed, "Good luck" she said, remembering her own challenges

**When he didn't say anything but continued walking the female ninja grabbed him.**

Kushina stopped laughing as she and Minato mentally glared at said female ninja.

**"Hey I'm talking to you!" she yelled.**

**"And you are?" Naruto asked.**

**"I don't have to introduce myself to someone like you." She stated.**

**"Well then, you don't want to talk to me and I don't want to talk to you so why don't you put me down and we can both go about our business, lady!" Naruto said trying to keep his temper and failing.**

Kushina sighed, it went just as poorly as she expected

**"And what kind of business could a kid like you possibly have?" she ask while neglecting to release him.**

**"You don't have to tell me your name? Then I don't have to answer your question." Naruto said smugly.**

**"Why you little.."**

**"Is there a problem here?" asked Sarutobi cutting in before the situation escalated.**

"Thank you" Minato said to Sarutobi, looking grateful.

"It's not the same me, but I would of done it anyway" Was the old man's reply

**"No Hokage-Sama." Anko said releasing Naruto.**

"Anko!" They all said at once.

"Wow, I'm surprised nobody recognized her" Jiraiya said

**"Well that's good, Naruto did you need something?" he asked.**

**"Yeah, before this crazy women grabbed me I was coming to talk to you." He said.**

**"Who are you calling crazy!" she yelled.**

"Yeah, that's Anko alright" Jiraiya said wearily

**"Enough!" Sarutboi said. "Anko you are dismissed, Naruto come into my office and tell me what's on your mind."**

**"Whatever, I better not see you again you brat." She said to Naruto.**

**"Whatever crazy lady." Naruto said.**

**As they entered his office Sarutobi looked at Naruto with disappointment.**

**"I am disappointed in you Naruto." He said.**

**"What? Why?" he asked the last thing he wanted to do was lose the respect of those that cared for him.**

**"You could have handled the situation better. I know that Anko is a little extreme but you shouldn't have riled her up or called her crazy." The old leader said.**

**"She called me brat." Naruto said looking away with a pout.**

**"Yes she did but did that make it necessary to retaliate? If you are going to be a good ninja and a good leader you must learn to control your emotions better." The Hokage said. "If you are on mission and your opponent taunts you, do you fall for it and possibly die? Or do you control yourself and think clearly?" he said. He knew that what he was saying may have seemed harsh but yesterday Naruto had come wanting to know what it meant to be Hokage. Sarutobi was now going to make sure that he was constantly reminded what was expected of him as a leader.**

"Harsh, Sarutobi, harsh" Was all Minato said to the above words

"Harsh, yes, but necissary, if he truly wants to better himself he needs to understand the depht of what he's attempting to do" Sarutobi replied.

**Naruto sighed. He knew that controlling his emotions was important but he didn't know how to start. "I know that old man and I'm trying to control myself." He said dejectedly.**

**The wise leader's face softened. "Take it one day at a time Naruto. Now what did you want?"**

**"I want to know if you know how I can improve myself. I know all of my weaknesses but I don't know how to improve on them." He said.**

"Yeah, that's gonna be difficult, espically with the limited resoruces he has" Minato said

**"Well what do you need help with?" he asked.**

**"My taijutsu sucks, my ninjutsu is very limited, my genjutsu is non-existent, and I suck at written tests and I'm hot-headed." Naruto stated.**

"So...basically Kushina?" Jiraiya jested, before ducking behind his sensei to avoid her infamous wrath

**"You have thought hard about this." Sarutobi said surprised.**

**Naruto had a sad look on his face. "I never used to think that hard about things."**

**"Why is that?" he asked**

Kushina suddenly had a pained look, like she knew exactly what he was thinking

**"I never used to think hard about anything because for one I knew no one would answer any question**

_No one answered his questions?_ Was what Sarutobi thought, he knew Naruto had it rought, but the academeny teachers always said he was advancing at a steady rate.

Academey teachers...

Like Mizuki.

Sarutobi cursed under his breath as the realization hit him, he only wished he had saw it sooner.

**I had and two if I thought about it for too long then I start to would wonder why the villagers hate me and become upset. That's why I decided that if I didn't understand something then I would just disregard it. But as a leader and a ninja I have to think things through, especially if I don't understand it. If I have to make a decision on a topic I didn't understand I can't very well ignore the topic and rush a decision I have to think things through." Naruto said.**

Minato smiled, "So young, and he's already thinking like a squad leader"

**Sarutobi sighed. He knew that Naruto had it hard and knew that it wouldn't get better for a while.**

**"Well I can't help you that much Naruto. I don't have the time to train you and it wouldn't really be fair either. I can however allow you to go to the library and check out any scroll you want. If they try to give you trouble just tell them that I sent you." He said with an edge in his voice. He didn't like what the villagers did to Naruto and he would take action if need be.**

**"Thanks old man." Naruto said as he started to walk away. 'Well I knew that was coming, what should I do now?' he thought.**

**"Guess I'll get something to eat then head to the library.'' He told himself.**

Kushina looked at Jiraiya and Sarutobi, they both mouthed 'ramen' and Kushina felt her pride as a mother increase 10-fold

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**As Naruto headed to the ramen stand he saw the lady from before.**

**'What was her name again? Oh right it was Anko.' He thought.**

"This could be bad" Sarutobi muttered

**He was about to leave it at that and continue on his was until he realized that the villagers were looking at her the same way they looked at him. He saw them whispering behind her back and glaring at her with hate and distrust.**

Everyone looked down at that, they knew the reason was Orochimaru, even if Minato and Kushina hadn't been alive for his betrayal, they explained it to them when they arrived.

**What intrigued Naruto even more was that she seemed to sense what was going on around her but didn't seem to care. While the glares used to make him feel bad she didn't look as if they hurt her at all. Naruto followed her, discretely, to see if he could talk to her.**

"Curious..." Sarutobi said, wondering how this would play out

**Anko had entered the dango shop in a bad mood. She couldn't get over how that brat disrespected her earlier.**

Jiraiya chuckled weakly "That's Anko, I'm surprised she's not drawing up plans for revenge yet"

Minato smiled "Probably because he's a jinchuriki, and my son"

**'I better not see him again for a long time.' She thought.**

"Ask and you shall recieve the opposite" Jiraiya said, chuckling

**She was short on money so she only ordered a few sticks of dango, but was surprised when the waiter brought more then she ordered.**

**"What's going on I didn't order all this, and I can't pay for it either." She said.**

**"They were paid for by that dem..er ..kid" he said with disgust on his face.**

While they were upset about what the man almost called Naruto, they were happy to see him reaching out to someone of a similar status

**Anko looked over to see Naruto walking toward her.**

**"What do you want brat!" she said still angry about earlier.**

**"I wanted to say that I was sorry." Naruto said.**

Kushina smiled at that, as did Minato

**"What?" Anko asked confused.**

**"I'm sorry about how I acted earlier. I shouldn't have lost my temper and escalated the argument." Naruto said.**

**Anko, as a rule, didn't apologize.**

Everyone chuckled lightly at that

**She thought it would make her look weak. However, she was fair and if the kid would go out of his way to buy her dango as well as apologize then she should be women enough to accept.**

**"Apology accepted brat, and for what it's worth I guess I'm sorry too. It was my fault anyway." She said.**

Sarutobi smiled, Naruto was making progress at controlling his emotions

**Naruto smiled, normally if he were to apologize to someone it was not uncommon for them to brush him aside or completely ignore him as if he wasn't there.**

"Anko, thank you..." Kushina said in graituide for what the women doing

**"Well enjoy the dango, it's not as good as ramen but it's still okay. Maybe I'll see you around." He said as he walked away feeling better.**

**Anko looked at him as he left and noticed the way the people looked and talked about him. She never thought that there was someone else in the village that was treated the same, if not worse than her. She knew about the kyuubi but to her the kid was simply the jailer. Many thought of him as a demon in human form, but she knew better. She knew from personal experience what a demon in human form was like and the kid was nothing like that. She continued to eat as she thought more about the strange kid.**

"It's about damn time we find someone who sees Naruto and not the Fox" Minato said angrily, Kushina looked at him and could tell this had been building

**'Naruto uzumaki, your nothing like what I've heard.' She thought.**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**The next day, Naruto lay on the training ground panting. He had gone to the library and checked out almost every scroll on taijutsu that he could. He knew that he had to start somewhere on improving himself and so he chose to work on his taijutsu. He wasn't allowed to look at ninjutsu or genjutsu scrolls as you had to be a ninja to read them. He had looked at every style of fighting they had but couldn't seem to find the style that best suited him. They all felt wrong somehow, like they weren't the right ones for him.**

Jiraiya felt sympathy for him, he too had trouble finding the right taijutsu style until he started training with the Toads, indeed the Naruto he knew had no real Taijutsu style, just wild punches and kicks

**'Man what am I going to do?' he thought. Suddenly he saw two kunai coming at him. He hurriedly moved out of the way.**

Everyone was alert, Sarutobi was seething that someone would go out of their way to try and murder Naruto.

**"Who's there." He said.**

**"Nice reflexes brat." Anko said as she came into view.**

Kushina was instantly clawing at the book, "THAT BITCH, HOW DARE SHE"

Jiraiya, who had glimpshed the next few pages, hurridly tried tor reassure Kushina, "It's not as bad as you think! I swear!"

After they managed to calm Kushina down with hundreds of reassurments that Naruto would be fine, Jiraiya kept reading

**"Why did you do that!" he yelled. "Let me guess, that apology yesterday was a trick wasn't it! You wanted me to let my guard down." He said angrily.**

**Anko could see the hurt and the anger in his eyes and knew that this wasn't the first time that something like that must have happened to the kid.**

And just like that Kushina was back into Mama Bear mode, ready to crush the people who did that to her son.

**"Sorry about that. I really did mean what I said; it's just that I wanted to see how fast your reflexes are." She said while scratching the back of her head with a sheepish look on her face.**

**Naruto looked at her a long time. "So you threw kunai at me?" He said.**

**"They were blunted. Anyway, you have pretty good reflexes for a brat." She said.**

Slowly, comprehension dawned on then, "Does she..." Kushina asked hopefully

**"You know you still haven't told me what you wanted." Naruto said.**

**"Well I came to see what you were up to. By the looks of it you have been at it for a while." She said slightly impressed with how hard he must have worked.**

**"Yeah well it didn't help that much. I still can't find the right style of taijutsu and I have no way to improve my ninjustsu or genjutsu." He said.**

**"Well how about this. I'll help you for a price." Anko said.**

Kushina made a complete 180 from her pervious tempement, "She does! Thank you Anko, thank you"

**"Why do you want to help me?" Naruto asked suspiciously.**

**Anko looked at him for a while as if she couldn't think of the reason either.**

That got a laught out of everyone present, as tension from the previous encounter faded

**"I guess it's because I see how the villagers treat you and you remind me a lot about myself." She said.**

**"I lost my parents when I was young and was alone until someone took me under their wing. I was happy until something happened.**

They all held their heads down in sadness, remembering what Orochimaru did to her, and what happened to her because of it.

**Afterwards no one trusted me except the Hokage. I guess I want to help you like I wanted someone to help me when I was younger." She said with a furlong look in her eyes.**

**Naruto looked at her to see if she was just pulling a prank on him. It wouldn't be the first time that someone said they wanted to help him only to take advantage of him later.**

Kushina glared at the book, as if she could kill those who did such a thing with thought alone.

**He couldn't find any hint of duplicity in her face so he decided to accept. However, he wouldn't take things at face value anymore and would be on the lookout for any hint that she was setting him up just to bring him down.**

Minato nodded, "Smart, but I really hope that she's being sincere, my son needs someone to help him" a look from Sarutobi, "I mean someone who has time to dedicate to him" At which Sarutobi nodded

**"Help how and what's the price?" he asked.**

Jiraiya nodded, "Yeah, she really doesn't do stuff like that for free"

**Anko let out a sigh of relief. She wasn't good at opening up and was grateful that he accepted her help.**

**"Well you say that you can't find the right taijutsu style for you so let's start there. Come at me with everything you've got and I'll see if I can help you improve. Oh, and don't worry about the price right now, I'll collect later." She said**

**Naruto agreed and ran toward her.**

**What neither of them noticed was a lone figure dressed in a black robe watching them from a tree in the distance.**

Jiraiya made a sound, "Jeez, it's like this guy's stalking him"

**After the spar Naruto was on the ground breathing hard. Anko had barely broken a sweat.**

**He had come at her with almost every style of taijutsu there was. She was very impressed that he could get so many of them down so quickly.**

**"You impress me kid." She said "You have a pretty good grasp of a lot of styles, but none of them are perfect by a long shot, heck you can't even be considered proficient.**

Minato sighed, being ok in all every style meant nothing if you couldn't call any your own

**You know what they say "A jack of all trades but a master of none". You need to find one style that best suits you and master it." She said.**

**"I know that" he said panting. "But I can't find the style that best suits me. What about the style you were using? It was the serpent style right?"**

Sarutobi and Jiraiya frowned, another relic of Orochimaru

**"Yes it was, but I can already tell that it isn't the right style for you. The serpent style relies heavily on one's flexibility and it mainly consists on the ability to strike fast and quick." She said. "Sorry but I don't know of a style that best suits you."**

**Naruto looked at the ground in defeat.**

Minato frowned, another door closed

**"But don't worry about it." She said trying to improve his mood. "You may not have a style that suits you but we can prepare you for when you find the style that works best for you." Anko said with a smile on her face.**

**"What do you mean?" Naruto said suspiciously, he didn't like the look of that smile.**

**"Well for one thing your stamina needs to improve and your speed and strength need to be worked on as well." She said.**

**"I want you to run 10 laps around the training area without stopping and I want it done in 10 minutes." She said.**

They all stared at the book...

"Anko...you're insane" Jiraiya muttered weakly

**"That's crazy!" Naruto said.**

**"Oh? Maybe you need some motivation." Anko stated. "Summoning jutsu!" she yelled as a large snake appeared beside her.**

**"I would get going brat, she has a large appetite and hasn't eaten in a while."**

**Naruto wasted no time in talking and ran as fast as he could away from the snake.**

They all laughed at the absurity of the situation

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**A while later, Anko was impressed with Naruto. After the laps she had him start on push-ups, sit-ups, and had him work on his evasion skills by throwing blunted kunai at him. And while he would complain he never stopped and never gave anything but his best. There was a determination in him that surprised Anko.**

Kushina smiled, "Hell yeah! That's my kid!" Minato laughed at his wife's expression, but agreed whole-heartly

**"Hey brat." She said.**

**Naruto looked up from where he was resting. "Yeah what?" he asked.**

**"What's up with you? The word around the village is that you take nothing seriously, you pull pranks all the time and you suck as a ninja. Yet, you do everything I tell you and you do it very well. What drives you? Why do you get up every time you fall and keep at it?" she asked.**

**"I need to become stronger." Naruto said. "My goal is to be the Hokage and that is going to take a lot of work. I can't stop, give up or quit because the Hokage can never do those things either if he is going to protect everyone in the village." He said to her.**

**"Why do you want to be the Hokage so badly anyway?" she asked curious of his answer. Anyone with ears knew that the kid wanted to be Hokage, but very few knew or cared why.**

**"It used to be because I wanted acknowledgement and to be respected. However, that has changed. I know now that you can't force people to acknowledge you and you have to earn respect. My purpose to be Hokage now is so that I can protect every precious person I have in this village. I will gladly lay down my life to protect those who care for me, have protected me, and have saved me from complete isolation and loneliness!" He said with passion in his eyes.**

Minato smiled, those had been his words when he was asked why wanted to be Hokage

**When Anko looked at him she was stunned. She saw not one sign of compromise in what he had just said. She saw no fear of death, no illusions of grandeur, all she saw was a determination and passion that few of her own colleagues possessed.**

**"You know with that attitude you are on the right track kid." She said with a smirk. "No let's get back to it! I can't you to become Hokage as fast as possibly, so I can tell everyone that I taught the future Hokage, and get all the free dango I want!"**

**Naruto, with a sweat drop, simply looked at her. 'And people say that I'm obsessed with ramen.' He thought.**

They all had similar reactions to that...statement

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**And so it went for six months. Anko would train Naruto on the weekends as she couldn't just time off to train him. During the week Naruto would train with scrolls that Anko had given him to learn. He would also read to try and improve his written scores when the academy opened again. Naruto's chakra control had improved; he had learned the henge as well as the karami jutsu. While not a genius, he still hated written work, he was up to speed with what he needed to know going into the third year of the academy. However, there were still some things he needed to improve on. His taijutsu was still shaky. No matter what he did he couldn't find any style that seemed to fit him. His genjutsu was still horrible but Anko told him to not worry about it. According to her, his chakra reservoirs were extremely large for someone who wasn't even a genin. She said that genjutsu would be very difficult for him because of this.**

Kushina smiled, a few tears forming, "He's doing it, my little Naruto, he's doing it"

Minato hugged Kushina as he felt the same feeling, he was proud of his son to be doing so well

**Naruto and Anko had grown close over the past six months. So much so that Naruto had begun to call her Anko-neesan. While Anko repeatedly told him to stop, it did make her feel good to be looked up to as a sister. Though she would never say it, she thought of him as a little brother.**

Everyone there smiled and felt happy for Naruto, he had grown up without a family, but, at least _this _Naruto had made his own.

**Currently Naruto is heading home to rest after another training session with Anko. 'Man neesan is a slave driver.' He thought wincing with every step. He looked forward to getting back to his apartment and relaxing with a hot bath.**

**As Naruto entered his apartment, he knew something was off. Training with Anko had heightened his sense of danger and it was screaming at him that something was wrong. Naruto took out a kunai and scanned the room.**

Minato smiled proudly, he sensed a threat, and immeditly went into combat mode, still, he couldn't repress the nervous feeling at the idea of someone attacking his son

**The sun was setting so there were many shadows for an intruder to hide in. He tried to turn the lights but when he flipped the switch the lights refused to come on.**

**"Alright, I don't know who you are, or what you want but if you don't come out in the next 5 seconds then I will find you and you won't be happy!" Naruto said.**

**There was no answer, and Naruto was beginning to worry. Whoever was in his apartment had the foresight to cut the electricity, and now had the element of surprise on their side. He began to back toward the door, if whoever was in the apartment meant him harm he didn't want his only route of escape to be blocked. He had no illusions about his strength. According to Anko he was currently about mid-genin in terms of skill. As he backed toward the door he bumped into a solid body.**

Everyone held their breath, the book's many pages made it obvious that Naruto survived, but it was still frighting.

**Naruto immediately turned and prepared to throw his kunai until he saw his intruder. It was the man from a few months ago. He still wore the black robe that hid everything about him.**

And like that the tension melted.

"I knew it! He IS a stalker" Jiraiya yelled, laughing

**"Why are you in my apartment and what do you want?!" Naruto. While he tried to appear calm he was sweating and was his hand was shaking slightly.**

**"Oh sorry about that." The man said "I just wanted to talk for a bit."**

**"So why did you cut my electricity and hide in the shadows." Naruto said. He was calming down and his fear was turning into anger.**

**"I wanted to see how much you had improved and I must say that you impress me." The man replied "I am very good at stealth, yet you sensed my presence."**

Minato and Kushina smiled, that meant he had truely progressed

**"Thanks I guess." Naruto said. If this man wanted to harm him he had plenty of opportunities and he had helped Naruto with his dream so Naruto decided to trust him, for now.**

**"Your welcome. Now on to business. I have been watching you and must say that you are improving quickly." He said.**

**"Why have you been following me?" Naruto asked a bit suspiciously.**

**"Your skills are all improving except your taijutsu and your genjutsu." The man said, ignoring the question.**

"I've been thinking of that, no style's going to truely fit him, so he'll either need to create a whole new one, or use an anagram of different styles, both of which would be difficult, as for Genjutus, sadly there's no hope for him learning any of it" Minato said, listing his thoughts

**"Do you enjoy not answering my questions?" Naruto said growing irritated.**

As was Jiraiya, "Seriously, won't he just give us a straight answer?"

**"You can't do much about your genjutsu as your chakra reserves are large, but you can do something about your taijutsu." The man replied, once again ignoring Naruto's question.**

**"And what is that, as you must already know I have tried all of the styles and none of them suit me." Naruto said.**

**"Yours is not the path that has already been travelled." The mysterious figure said cryptically.**

**Naruto looked at him for a while seemingly in concentration. After a while Naruto looked at him with a serious expression on his face.**

**"What does that mean?" he asked scratching his head in confusion.**

**The man sighed. "It means that what has worked for other will not work for you. You need to create your own path. That is something special about you Naruto. While watching you train I saw it. You take a problem and look at it from a completely different perspective than others. Thus this should apply to taijutsu. You need to find the style that others have passed up as impossible or illogical."**

Minato's eyes flashed in recogintion, "He's not considering..."

**He threw a scroll at Naruto. Naruto opened it and read for a while.**

**"What is this? This looks like a taijutsu style." He said after inspecting it.**

**"It is" the man said simply.**

**"It seems to be a combination of a bunch of styles. But there doesn't seem to be any pattern to it. It looks like someone just wrote bits and pieces of other styles in no specific order." Naruto said while turning the scroll in many different directions, trying to find a pattern.**

"There isn't one" MInato said, at the looks of the others, he added "It's called the Dragon Style, it's an anagram of all the styles, instead of a few, for that reason, very few people have heard of it, let alone learn or use it"

**The man laughed. "Yes, I'm sure that is what it looks like. This style incorporates the best of other styles into one style. It's called the dragon style."**

**"But I already saw the scroll that had the dragon style." Naruto said confused.**

**The man snorted. "Please that is just a watered down version of the true style. Very few people have ever mastered this style."**

**"What makes you think that I can?" Naruto asked.**

**"As I said, few have mastered this style. The reason being that most who have attempted this style didn't have what it took, you do. Look at it again and concentrate." The man said.**

**Naruto looked at the scroll for a while trying to figure out a pattern to the different characters, but nothing became clear.**

Minato shook his head, "If you keep looking for a pattern, you'll only get a headache"

**"No Naruto." The man said "Don't think of it as a puzzle, just look at it"**

**Naruto became frustrated no matter how many times he tried to solve whatever pattern this scroll had, he came up with nothing. Then he simply did what the man said. He stopped trying to look for a pattern and simply concentrated on the scroll. Suddenly it seemed as if the characters were moving by themselves. It suddenly became clear to him. He looked at the man.**

Minato stared slackjawed, before breaking out in a huge grin, "He did it...He figured it out! My son's a genius!" Minato shouted

**"The reason that few have ever been able to use this style is that they look for a pattern. What they never realized is that there is no pattern. There is no one specific way to do this style because this style varies with the user. The styles are there for you to use but you must choose how you use them. That is what makes this style near impossible to defeat if ever mastered. Your enemies will never be able to predict your movement as they seem to be completely random and unorganized. The only person who could possibly defeat you is a taijutsu specialist as even they will have a hard time defeating you." The man said.**

**Naruto's eyes widened.**

**"Don't get cocky Naruto." The man warned "It will take a long time for you to completely master this style."**

**"Yeah well just like being Hokage, if it was easy anyone could do it." Naruto said.**

**"Well then, good luck and I hope you pass the genin exam this time." The man said as he turned to leave.**

**"Wait!" Naruto said.**

**The man stopped and looked at him.**

**"Why are you doing this? First you give me great advice about being the Hokage, and then you help me with my taijutsu. Why are you doing all of this for me, you don't even know me." Naruto said truly confused. He couldn't think of way a complete stranger would do all of this for him.**

**"Why am I doing all of this? Well maybe it's because I see some of me in you. Maybe it's because I understand what you are going through. But the real reason I'm helping you…." He said.**

Everyone leaned it, hoping to finally get an answer

**"Yeah?" Naruto said.**

**"That is a secret!" The man said as he walked out the door.**

And just as quickly fell down.

"OH COME ON!" Jiraiya complained

**"Wait!" Naruto said as he ran out the door, only to realize that the man had disappeared.**

**"Who is that guy?" Naruto said. He then saw a scroll at his feet. He opened it to see one line written on the scroll.**

**That is also a secret.**

Jiraiya's eye was twiching so much you'd be forgiven for thinking it was in need of a reboot

**Naruto looked around but saw no one. He went back into his house and got the electricity running again. He looked at the dragon scroll. It had some very complex styles that would take him a long time to learn. 'Oh well, might as well get started in the morning' Naruto thought as he took a shower and went to bed. The academy would start in another six months and he was going to learn as much about this style as he could.**

**Unknown to Naruto, the man was watching him threw his window.**

**'I can only do so much Naruto the rest is up to you. The future will be long and hard and you will need to be strong to face what is coming.' The man thought as he turned and disappeared.**

Jiraiya bookmarked and closed the book, "That's the end of chapter 2, I need a break, I hate how that guy keeps giving vague answers" And with that Jiraiya got up, and walked off to...somewhere, grumbling all the way.

**And there's chapter 2, on a side not, holy geez I've never seen so many people favorite and/or follow one my fics before, thanks so much for the support!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own Naruto and thanks to Kyuubi123 for the awesome story**

**Chapter 3**

No sooner had Jiraiya put the book down had Kushina snatched up, "My turn!" She said cheerfully, as she flipped through the pages.

"I wonder what we'll find in this new chapter" Sarutobi wondered.

"If I had to hazard a guess, probably the academey, I wonder how he'll do now that Anko's been tutoring him" Minato answered

"Well, let's find out" Kushina said, beginning to read

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**Naruto walked toward the academy slightly apprehensive. 'I wonder what this year will be like?' he thought. He knew that he was going to cause a commotion, if for no other reason than the clothes he was wearing. He had abandoned the orange jumpsuit that he used to wear.**

That had gotten a shock out of Jiraiya and Sarutobi, the Naruto they knew would die before wearing something then his orange clothes.

**According to Anko, if he wanted to stick out like a bull's-eye in the field, then wearing bright orange was definitely the way to gain attention. His clothing now consisted of black pants with dark orange strips along the sides, black ninja sandals, a long sleeve black shirt with an orange spiral on the chest, and a black trench coat that went to his knees given to him by his nee-san.**

**He now looked like a serious ninja, and he had a year to prove himself and gain the headband of a leaf shinobi. As he walked toward the academy he was met with a mixture of looks. There were still the ever present hateful and distrustful looks from a majority, but a few were looking at him with confusion. They couldn't figure out why he was wearing new clothes and his new attitude. Naruto noticed the new looks, but paid them no mind.**

They all smiled at that, Naruto's life so far seemed to have taken a far better turn

**He was still thinking about the academy.**

**When Naruto finally reached the doors of the academy he stopped for a moment. 'Okay, the old Naruto is gone. Now it's time to finally take my role as a ninja seriously. Heh, I can't wait until they get a look at me now.' Naruto thought with a smirk. He opened the doors and headed toward his future.**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**Iruka looked at the student before him. He could tell that this year's crop of students would be the best the village had seen in a long time. There was one child from each of the predominate clans in the village. Iruka looked at the potential ninja and saw a bright future for the village, but he noticed one student missing.**

**'Where is Naruto?' Iruka thought hoping that the child hadn't quit.**

Minato and Kushina smiled, happy there was someone else who cared for their son.

**Iruka saw a lot of himself in the child. They were both orphans who strived to have acceptance.**

Minato gaped and looked at Sarutobi, "The Nine tails?"

Sarutobi merely nodded, confirming Minato's suspciouns."

**At first he hated Naruto because of the kyuubi, but that soon changed when he got to know the child. Iruka sighed, he knew that Naruto had a lot of potential; he just didn't have anyone who could bring it out.**

Kushina smiled, "He does now!"

**"Alright, quiet down. It's time for roll call." Iruka said.**

**"Kiba inuzuka"**

Minato looked up, "Tsume's kid?" He asked, getting confirmation from Sarutobi

**"Here" a boy with a dog on his head said.**

**"Shino Aburame"**

Kushina spoke up, "Sounds like Shibi"

**"Present" said a boy with sun glasses and a trench coat that covered everything but his upper face and head.**

**"Sasuke Uchiha"**

Minato's mouth twitched into something that resemble a mix between a smile and scowl, "Fugaku's son?" Getting nods from Sarutobi and Jiraiya

**"Here" said a boy dressed in a blue shirt with the Uchiha crest on the back and white shorts.**

**"Sakura Haruno"**

"Don't recognize her last name, a civilian Ninja, unusal" Kushina mumbled

**"Here" said a girl with bright pink hair who was currently staring at the Uchiha with love in her eyes.**

**"Ino Yamanaka"**

Kushina looked happy, "Inojin's kid!"

**"Here" said a girl with blonde hair in a ponytail, and a purple outfit, who was also staring at the Uchiha with love in her eyes.**

**'Fangirls.' Iruka thought with a sigh.**

As did the four present

**"Choji Akimichi"**

"Wow, looks like he was right, everyone from each big clan" Minato stated.

**"Here" said a large boy with brown hair and a bag of chips in his hand, which he was currently eating.**

**"Shikamaru Nara"**

**"Troublesome" said a boy with black hair that was in a high ponytail and a bored expression on his face.**

Minato smiled, "Yeah that sounds like Shikaku's son"

**"Hinata Hyuga"**

"Hiashi, or Hizashi?" Kushina asked

"Hiashi" Jiraiya said

**"Here" said a girl with blue hair, lavender eyes with no pupils, and who was wearing a beige coat that covered everything to her waist as well as blue pants.**

**"Naruto Uzumaki" Iruka called. There was no answer and the children started to comment.**

**"The dope must have dropped out." Sasuke said.**

**"Yeah, that's right, he couldn't do anything right anyway." Said Ino.**

"Those little!" Kushina's eyes had turned to fire

**'This is great, with Naruto gone now I won't have anyone bugging me and Sasuke will be all mine' Sakura thought.**

**Every one of the students were thinking along the same lines as Sasuke and Ino except one.**

Kushina immedtialy perked up, "Oh! Who?!"

Jiraiya and Sarutobi smiled, knowing who that person was

**'Naruto-kun, where are you? I know that you would never give up' Hinata thought. She had had a crush on the young boy since they entered the academy.**

The room had grown silent, as the words processed through Minato and Kushina's minds

.

.

.

Kushina immeditaly hugged Minato while happy tears flown down her cheeks, "She likes him! She likes him!" Was all she chanted for 10 minutes.

After calming her down, they kept on reading.

**His will to never give up as well as his cheerful personality gave the girl confidence in herself.**

**Suddenly the doors of the classroom opened, and in walked Naruto.**

**"Sorry I'm late Iruka-sensei" Naruto said.**

Sarutobi chuckled, dramatic, like his father

**"That's okay Naruto, just don't let it happen again" Iruka said sternly, even though he was relieved that the child had shown up.**

**As Iruka continued calling names, Naruto looked for an open seat. He saw one by Sakura and one by Hinata.**

No one heard anything, but they were certain Kushina was chanting something.

**While in the past he wouldn't have thought twice before sitting next to his crush Sakura, but he had changed from the child he once was. He realized that he only talked to Sakura because she would always pay attention to him. Granted she would hit him every time and call him names, but that didn't matter to him. In his mind, she was one of the most popular students and she acknowledged him somewhat. That made her the ideal person for him to try and date.**

Kushina frowned, as did Jiraya, they had both acted like that at one point, beliving bad attention was better then none

**However, things had changed. He no longer strived for the attention of those that didn't like him, and Sakura had made it abundantly clear that she didn't like him. So with that in mind he walked past the seat beside Sakura and headed toward Hinata.**

Everyone's eyes lit up, this could only be good for both of them

**'Oh no Naruto-kun is headed toward me. Is he really going to sit beside me? What am I going to do?' thought the extremely shy girl. She may have liked Naruto for years but she could never say anything to him. She was so shy that even being around him could cause her to faint and when she did talk it was normally in a stutter.**

**Naruto sat down beside Hinata. Hinata had never been mean to him. When he thought about it she was probably one of the only people at the academy who didn't call him a failure or look down on him.**

Kushina and Minato smiled, when they were academy, they had the same situation.

Minato didn't have any Clan and so people thought he wouldn't amount to anything

Kushina was foreginer and and Jinchuuriki on top of that, so people ridiculed and hated her.

In the academy, they became each other's crutches, becoming stronger off each other

**He really didn't know that much about her except that she was a part of the Hyuga clan and possessed the byakugan. He had studied up on all of the clans during the break.**

Sarutobi nodded in approval, "A good Ninja learns all he can"

**"Hey Hinata, you don't mind if I sit here do you?" Naruto asked kindly. He still didn't know what Hinata thought of him and was hoping that they could become friends.**

Sarutobi chuckled, only Naruto would worry about not becoming friends with her

**Hinata, for her part, couldn't even look at Naruto before a blush came to her face and she began to twiddle her index fingers. "S-s-sure, N-n-naruto-k-kun" she said quietly.**

**A huge smile of relief came to Naruto's face. "Thanks a lot Hinata." He said. Hinata's blushed intensified and she broke eye contact with Naruto and stared at her desk.**

**While this was going on, everyone in the class stared at Naruto dumbfounded. Not only had he gotten rid of that horrid jumpsuit, but he completely ignored the seat beside Sakura, and sat beside Hinata. Even Iruka was stunned. Naruto had just passed up a chance to sit beside the girl that everyone knew he had a crush on only to sit beside the girl that had a crush on him.**

They all laughed at it, it would be pretty funny if something like that happened out of nowhere

**'Well that's pretty ironic. What's gotten into you Naruto?' Iruka thought.**

**Naruto finally noticed the looks he was receiving and was confused at it. "Why are all of you staring at me?" he asked.**

**"What's up with you Naruto? Why are you wearing those cloths?" Kiba asked.**

**"Yeah, stop trying to look cool like Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said.**

**Everyone expected Naruto to act hurt at Saukra's words and try to get a date. Naruto once again surprised them by not responding.**

Sarutobi once again nodded in approval

**"Alright, that's enough." Iruka said. He hated how the kids always seemed to pick on Naruto, but he was surprised at how Naruto was controlling himself. "Let's go outside, we are going to start with testing how you have improved over the break."**

Kushina smiled, "Time to see how good he is"

**After everyone had arrived at the training field Iruka broke them up between boys and girls. He had them line up and stand in front of the targets.**

**"Okay, you will be given 5 kunai and 5 shuriken. I want you to throw them at the targets." Iruka said.**

**The boy's went first. Shikamaru simply threw them, not caring where they hit and went to take a nap under a tree.**

'_Deftinally a Nara'_ they all thought

**Choji hit the target with 3 of his kunai and 2 of his shuriken.**

Minato laughed, "That's better then Chouza, he couldn't hit any"

**Shino was able to hit the bull's eye with 1 kunai, the others landed close, and hit the target with all of his shuriken.**

"Wow, I didn't know Aburama's were capable of throwing shuriken/kunai" Kushina joked

**Kiba did the same as Choji, which was expected as neither of their respective clan techniques relied heavily on throwing projectiles.**

_'Makes sense'_ They all thought

**Sasuke stepped up, much to the joy of every female except Hinata, and took his position. He threw all of the kunai and shuriken at the same time and hit the bull's eye with all five of the kunai and four of the shuriken.**

"Well...he's pretty good" Minato conceded

**'Sasuke-kun is so amazing' every girl thought, once again with the exception of Hinata.**

**"Good job Sasuke, a near perfect score. Naruto it's your turn now." Iruka said.**

**Naruto stepped into position. "Try to actually hit something this time, dope." Sasuke said as he passed Naruto. Everyone expected Naruto to explode and fire back a retort, but Naruto stayed focused and didn't respond.**

Minato looked shocked, which didn't go unnoticed by Kushina

"What's up, why you looking like that" Kushina wondered.

"Well, even with all the anger mangament, I expected him to retort, I mean, he is your son after all"

They laughed at that, until Kushina realized what he said.

"What does that mean" She asked, oddly calm, as her chakra started to flair up.

"Nothing! Let's keep reading" Jiraiya cut in hasitly, before the situation escalated

**Naruto picked up all of the kunai threw them all at once. Then he did the same with the shuriken. Everyone had to pick their jaws off of the ground when they saw that every one of the projectiles had landed in the bull's eye.**

**"How was that Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked with a self satisfied look on his face.**

**"That was amazing Naruto! You just got a perfect score." Iruka exclaimed with pride. He didn't know how Naruto had improved so quickly, but he was happy that he was progressing.**

Sarutobi smiled, if there was any teacher at that academny he was proud of, it was Iruka

**"Don't look so smug Naruto! You were just lucky, you're still not as good as Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled. Many of the other students agreed but a few were looking at Naruto in a new light.**

Minato smilled, maybe, hopefully, they would see him differently now

**Naruto ignored them and started walking back to the end of the line with a smile on his face. Naruto saw Hinata looking at him with a small smile of approval. This brought an even larger smile to Naruto's face, which in turn brought a large blush to Hinata's face.**

**'I wonder why she does that.' Naruto thought.**

That got some chuckles out of the audience

**The girls went next. Sakura was able to hit the target with three of her kunai and 2 of her shuriken.**

Jiraiya nodded in approval, "For a civlilan with no clan training, that was pretty good"

**"How did I do Sasuke-kun?" She asked. Sasuke for his part simply ignored her.**

**When it was Hinata's turn, she looked at the bull's eye and saw that Naruto was looking at her.**

**'Oh no, Naruto-kun is looking at me what if I mess up? What if he thinks that I'm a failure?' she thought as her hand started to shake.**

Sarutobi frowned, he knew Hinata had always had a confidence problem, hopefully her earlier friendship with Naruto would change that

**Naruto noticed that Hinata was shaking slightly. He walked up to her and grabbed her hand to stop it from shaking.**

**"Do your best Hinata." He said with a small smile.**

**Hinata barely heard his words as she was frozen from the fact that her crush was holding her hand, and was desperately trying not to faint. 'Naruto-kun is holding my hand' she thought with a blush that threatened to spread over her whole body.**

Some chuckles were heard

**'Must not faint, Must not faint.' she told herself.**

And the chuckles had now become full blown laughts

**Naruto noticed that Hinata had failed to respond. He saw that she had a dazed look on her face.**

**"Hinata you okay?" he asked.**

**Hinata snapped out of her stupor and looked at Naruto.**

**"Y-y-yes." She stuttered.**

**"Hinata, you're up." Iruka called.**

**Hinata quickly ran to her spot leaving a confused Naruto behind.**

**"Man she's weird." Naruto said.**

They all laughed again, only Naruto could be obvlious like that

**Hinata looked at the target and became nervous again until she looked at Naruto and saw a smile of encouragement on his face. Suddenly feeling more confident, she threw her kunai and shuriken. Three of her kunai hit the target with one hitting the bull's eye. Four of her shuriken hit the target, though none hit the bull's eye.**

They all smiled at that, Sarutobi espically as he recalled her non-existence skill with shurikens and kunai before.

**"Good job Hinata. You have the highest score of the girls and Naruto has the highest score of the boys. Alright let's go to the obstacle course." Iruka said.**

**While everyone followed Iruka, Naruto walked toward Hinata.**

**'Naruto-kun is coming this way. What if he thinks that I didn't do well?' Hinata thought, suddenly afraid of his reaction.**

Kushina smiled softly, "No need to be afraid, my little boy is nothing like that"

**"That was great Hinata!" Naruto said with a smile.**

**Hinata blushed and started to twiddle her fingers. "T-t-thank you N-n-naruto-kun. I think that you did great as well." She said.**

**Naruto was stunned for a second. Other than a few people, no one usually complimented him. Hinata was the first person in his age group who had actually given him a compliment and it made him happy.**

As did the rest of them, they were happy that Naruto's life had taken a turn

**"Thanks Hinata. Come on we have to get to the obstacle course." Naruto said with a small but genuine smile on his face. He then grabbed her hand the close contact, however, caused Hinata to faint.**

Kushina laughed, "Boy, she needs to work on that"

**"What happened to her?!" Naruto said. He picked her up and began to run to Iruka.**

**At the obstacle course, Iruka looked at his students and noticed that Hinata and Naruto were missing, until he saw Naruto running toward him with Hinata in his arms.**

**"Iruka-sensei, Hinata suddenly collapsed! Do you think I should take her to the nurse?" Naruto asked worriedly. Hinata seemed to be someone who would be his friend and he didn't want anything to happen to her.**

Jiraiya smiled at that, Naruto had few friends when he first met him, he could see this Naruto being just as protective of them

**Iruka could only smile. Only Naruto would be oblivious to Hinata's crush toward him.**

"I know right?!" Kushina laughed

**"She'll be fine Naruto. Just give her some room." Iruka said with a smile.**

**Naruto placed her under a tree and went to stand in line. When Hinata woke up she looked around to see everyone in line to take the obstacle course. She hurriedly got into line behind Naruto.**

**"Hey Hinata you feeling better?" Naruto asked concerned.**

**'He cares about how I feel? Oh kami, if this is a dream please don't wake me up.' Hinata thought.**

Jiraiya frowned, obviously she was happy that Naruto cared for her, but his long honed Ninja senses were telling him there was something more to that statement

**"Y-yes Naruto-kun, I feel better." She said.**

**"I'm glad." Naruto said as he went to take the obstacle course.**

**"Naruto-kun do your best." Hinata said with a blush.**

**Naruto looked at her and once again felt happy that someone in his class actually believed in him.**

**"I will Hinata." He said kindly.**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**After the obstacle course the students went outside to have lunch while the teacher's evaluated their scores.**

**Naruto looked around for a place to sit when he saw Hinata sitting all by herself.**

Minato frowned, "Does she not have any friends?"

**'Hinata has been the only person to be nice to me today. I wonder why.' Naruto thought. He wasn't used to being accepted and acknowledged, especially from his peers, so he was interested in why Hinata was so nice toward him when everyone else treated him with indifference or scorn.**

**"Hey Hinata, do you mind if I eat with you?" Naruto asked while walking toward her.**

**Hinata snapped out of her thoughts. She was thinking about how Naruto had seemed to be so different today. He was quieter, more reserved, much better at throwing projectiles, and if what she had heard from Iruka-sensei whisper to another teacher, then Naruto had done very well on the obstacle course as well. Another thing that she had noticed was Naruto's smile. While Naruto used to smile at seemingly everything in the past, even if it was ridicule, that smile seemed fake to her somehow. She noticed how Naruto never had his eyes open when he gave that smile. She could see the sadness that he tried to had behind that smile and it made her sad that he had to hide his emotions. She was also upset at herself for not being able to comfort him when he was sad because of her own insecurities.**

**The smile that Naruto had now, however, was not as large as his previous smiles, nor did they appear as frequently, but she could see that these smiles were more real. They didn't hide his pain. They expressed his joy and happiness. She much preferred the smiles that he used now.**

Kushina looked happy, "Good, I hate people who fake smiles!"

**She looked up at Naruto. "I d-don't m-mind Naruto-kun" she said with a small smile as well as a blush.**

**Naruto sat down and began to eat. He was glad that Hinata didn't seem to mind him at all. Everyone else still picked at him and called him names, but Hinata didn't. She didn't seem to judge him and actually encouraged him. He still didn't understand why she would blush so much around him or why she always seemed to stutter, but so far she was the friendliest student in his class toward him.**

**They sat in silence for a long time until Naruto decided to ask the question that had been bugging him from the beginning of the class.**

**"Hey Hinata, not that I don't mind but why are you different than the other students?" he asked.**

Jiraiya laughed, "Naruto! You gotta phrase those kinda questions better"

**Hinata looked at him in fear. 'Oh no does he mean that he thinks that I'm weird or that I'm not as good as everyone else?' she thought.**

**"I mean, you don't look at me with indifference or ridicule me. You actually congratulated me when everyone else tried to put me down. Why do you act so differently toward me?" Nartuo asked with confusion. He couldn't understand why Hinata would be so nice to him. She didn't even know him and yet she was the only one to look at him with kindness and approval. He couldn't care less about what the others students seemed to think about the new him. They went right back to ridiculing him, excluding him, and treating him like an idiot. They were just like the villagers in his opinion, but Hinata was different and he wanted to understand why.**

**Hinata was at a lost as to what to say. She certainly couldn't tell Naruto that she had a crush on him and at the same time she didn't want to fail to respond. He might take her silence the wrong way.**

**'I can't tell him my feelings, but I also don't want to hurt his feelings by staying silent. What should I do?' Hinata thought. Thankfully, she was saved from answering when the bell rang. Hinata let out a sigh of relief as she stood up.**

"Saved by the bell huh?" Kushina said, she was hoping that Hinata would come clean with Naruto, eventully at least

**"I t-think t-that we s-should get back to class N-naruto-kun." She said.**

**Naruto could see that she was relived for the distraction. He didn't want to pry. He would accept her friendliness and wouldn't pressure her. If she wanted to tell him her reasons than that was her decision.**

"Good, good, if you trust someone then you shouldn't need to pry into them" Minato said

**"It's okay Hinata, you don't have to tell me. Just tell me, would you like to be my friend." Naruto asked quietly, afraid that she might not want to be friends with someone like him.**

**Hinata was currently on cloud nine. Naruto, her crush Naruto, wanted her as a friend. She was so happy that she almost fainted, but she knew that he might take that as a rejection and that knowledge kept her conscious.**

**"I w-would l-like that Naruto-kun." She said with a small smile and blush on her face.**

**A wide smile appeared on Naruto's face. He had made his first friend and the day wasn't even over yet!**

**"Great! We'll be the best of friends Hinata." He said "Come on we don't want to late to class."**

**"H-hai" Hinata said, also happy about the recent development.**

"His first friend" Kushina whispered, she felt happier then ever.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**The rest of the day went smoothly for Naruto. His grade in the obstacle course was right behind Sasuke's. His massive improvement, coupled with his new attitude caused many to question what was up with Naruto. He nearly caused an uproar when he started answering some of the questions in class correctly.**

**When the day came to an end Iruka decided to find out what caused such an improvement. He saw Naruto talking to Hinata.**

**"Hey Naruto wait up." He said.**

**Naruto looked up at Iruka. "Huh, okay Iruka-sensei. I'll see you tomorrow Hinata." He said with a wide grin that caused the poor girl to blush from head to toe.**

**"O-okay N-naruto-kun." She said as she left. To her this was one of the best days she had had in a long time.**

**After she had left Iruka confronted Nartuo.**

**"Naruto, what happened over the break? You stopped wearing such bright colors; you don't react to the student when they pick on you, your skills have improved drastically, and you actually participate during the lecture." Iruka said.**

**Naruto looked at Iruka for a while before answering.**

**"The day I failed the genin exam for the second time, I met a man. He told me that I shouldn't care what those who don't care about me think or say. I only need to concern myself with those who actually care for me for who I am. That's why I don't respond to their taunts. As long as those who are precious to me believe in me and are proud of me than that's all I need. You were always like a big brother to me Iruka-sensei so I hold your opinion of me in high esteem. I know you don't think that I'm a loser or a drop-out and that's enough for me. The man also told me that I didn't know what it meant to be Hokage and he was right. So I asked the old man what it really meant to be the Hokage. I now know that being Hokage isn't about the title or the respect that comes with the job; it's about caring about the people of this village and being willing to protect them. That's why I'm going to become Hokage for, so that I can defend and protect all those that are precious to me." Naruto said with an intense expression on his face. "As for my skills, well you can thank me nee-san for that." Naruto said.**

**Iruka was very impressed. Naruto was changing for the better right before his eyes. He asked many questions. Such as whom the man was, what else he had learned over the break, and who his nee-san was. He was very surprised with the answers. Naruto didn't know the identity of the man; his chakra control had improved drastically, he had learned the henge and replacement jutsu, his taijutsu was something that he wanted to keep secret, and while Naruto couldn't caste a genjutsu, he could dispel one with a chakra pulse. Iruka's eyes nearly left his head when he found out that Anko was the women that Naruto thought of as a sister.**

Jiraiya laughed, "Yeah that's pretty shocking"

**"My Naruto you have improved a great deal. You may even be able to make rookie of the year if you keep it up. So to celebrate your first day how about we go get some ramen." He said.**

**Naruto's face lit up. "That would be great Iruka-sensei." He said as he walked to the front door.**

**"One thing though Naruto." Iruka said stopping him. "What's up between you and Hinata?" Iruka said with a small smile on his face.**

Jiraiya laughed, though he stopped at the glares from the others

**"Huh? Oh well Hinata agreed to be my friend. She is the only one who has been nice to me. She doesn't make fun of me, she congratulates me when I do something well, and she just seems like a nice person." Naruto said, not really comprehending what Iruka-sensei was trying to infer.**

"Of course he wouldn't, he's like his father" Kushina said

"Ye-Wait what?" Minato said, bewildered

**Iruka had the same smile on his face. Saying nothing he walked past Naruto toward the ramen stand.**

**'Maybe you'll understand her feelings toward you one day Naruto.' He thought.**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**And so things went in the academy for six months. Naruto continued to score high in the class for projectiles, ninjutsu, and taijutsu, though he refrained from using the dragon style as he wanted to save that for the graduation exam.**

"Smart, always have an ace up your sleave" Sarutobi said

**So when it came time for taijutsu he simply used one of the many styles that made up the dragon style, and while it was nowhere near perfect, he was proficient enough to be in the upper part of the class when it came to taijutsu. His progression had gained the attention of many of the students and teachers. Many teachers were wondering how he had progressed so quickly and were evaluating their treatment of him, especially when Iruka was around. He never condoned what they did to Naruto and would defend him against anyone who tried to speak ill of him.**

**Naruto and Iruka's relationship progressed to the point that they went for ramen almost every night.**

Sarutobi smiled, he was very glad that Iruka had taken up the challenge of watching Naruto

**Naruto had begun to call him Iruka-nii-san. Interestingly enough, Anko would pick Naruto up of Friday so that they could begin training, and Naruto was sure that he had never seen Iruka blush as bright as he did when he saw Anko, nor had he ever seen Anko express such an interest in a man. Many times he found himself being asked by one about the other.**

Suddenly, Jiraiya furrowed his brow and went into a thinking pose.

**Naruto and Hinata friendship had progressed as well, albeit slowly. They became more comfortable around each other which caused Hinata to lose her stutter. She did, however, still blush around naruto but she rarely fainted unless he were to hug her in excitement or do something else along the same lines.**

"Well...she's getting better" Kushina said weakily

**Naruto had also become good friends with Shino.**

That caught them off guard.

"Shibi's kid?" Minato questioned

**One day when Naruto and Hinata were eating he saw Shino all by himself and so Naruto headed over and asked if he wanted to join them. Shino was at first skeptical. He was never very social and people tended to leave his clan alone because of their relationship to bugs. **

"I never understood that" Jiraiya said

**When Shino expressed this and showed Naruto the insects inside his body Naruto simply stated that it made Shino different and different wasn't bad. Shino had never had someone express an interest in his companionship, nor had he ever met someone who didn't think that his bugs were gross. He decided to eat with them and they all became fast friends.**

Kushina smiled, her son was making friends

**Everything wasn't easy for Naruto, however. Aside from Shino and Hinata, everyone else seemed to treat him the same, if not worse, then before. Sakura and Ino continually tried to put him down and claim that he was trying to be cool like their "Sasuke-kun". Sasuke himself saw Naruto as someone to test his strength against. However, Naruto refused to fight Sasuke as he said that he had nothing to prove to the Uchiha. This did not sit well with Sasuke and the two had been on bad terms ever sense. Sasuke would continually try to badger Naruto into a spar or a competition and Naruto would continually ignore Sasuke taunts.**

Jiraiya looked at Minato, "My god, it's a carbon copy of how you and Fugaku acted"

That got a laught out of everyone, save Minato, who just looked annoyed

**The other teachers began to change their view of Naruto and began to treat him fairly, except for a select few.**

Kushina's face scurnched up in anger, "Who?" She said

**One of these was Mizuki. He pretended to be nice to Naruto when they first met, but Naruto saw through his farce. After this event, Mizuki tried his hardest to fail Naruto, discretely of course. Whether it was by trying to give him harder exams then the other or by failing to acknowledge Naruto's answers during class and penalize him for missed answers.**

Kushina cracked her knuckles and looked ready to find a way back to earth and give Mizuki a beat down of epic porpotions

**This stopped, however, when Iruka found out and brought the matter to the Hokage. Mizuki was fired from the academy and demoted to genin. This was considered merciful considering what Anko wanted to do to the man who tried to fail her otouto. (an: little brother)**

"Shoud of handed him over to Anko" Kushina muttered

**We now find Naruto walking toward the academy. He was in a good mood as the academy was half over and he was already in the top ten percent of the class. He could have been higher, but his genjustu skills and his refine from using the dragon taijutsu style kept him where he was. As he entered the room he found that Hinata was not in their usual spot. He looked around and didn't see her anywhere. He sat down beside Shino wondering where Hinata could be.**

_'Red flag' _Jiraiya thought, something seemed very off

**"Hey Shino, have you seen Hinata today?" Naruto asked.**

**"No." was all Shino said. Naruto and Hinata had learned that Shino was a man of few words and his responses were always short and to the point.**

**Naruto sighed and was beginning to worry as Hinata had never missed a day of school, even when she was sick. She said that she preferred to be at the academy than home.**

_'Another red flag!' _Jiraiya thought, getting more panicky, despite what he said, he cared for his godson and wanted him to be happy

**Naruto didn't understand that but didn't pry into her personal affairs. Naruto was brought out of his wonderings when he saw the door open and Hinata come in with her head down. This confused Naruto as Hinata confidence had increased greatly after becoming friends with him and Shino.**

**Hinata sat down beside Naruto without saying a word. She didn't even make eye contact with him or Shino. The boys looked at each other in confusion as to her strange behavior.**

By now Jiraiya's mind was racing, trying to come up with an answer, in the back of his head he already had, but he refused to acknowlege it

**"Hinata, are you okay?" Naruto asked. All he received in the way of an answer was a stifled sob.**

_'No no no no no' _Jiraiya repeated the mantra

**"Hinata, what is it?" Naruto asked. She still didn't reply.**

**"Hinata, we are your friends, you can tell use what's wrong." Shino said with a kind voice unlike his normally stoic tone.**

**Hinata said nothing, all she did was raise her head. The boys saw that she had white medical tape wrapped around her forehead, and her eyes were filled with dispar.**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

The room was quiet, the book fell from Kushina's hand and landed with a loud 'THUD'

Jiraiya looked panic stricken, "No, nononon, Hiashi, you didn't..."

Minato looked at his sensei with fear, "What is it, what happened?!"

"I...I didn't want to think, but, she, he gave her"

"The caged bird seal" Sarutobi finished, cold and angry, "Hiashi, what have you done"

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**Well, there you go, chapter 3.**

**IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE ACTUALLY STORY YET DO NOT SCROLL DOWN**

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**I really hate the way Hiashi is portrayed here, Hinata gets much more confidence and better skilled then in canon...and he transfer's Neji's seal to Hinata, while disowning her is something that happened in canon, I think the seal was too much.**

**Plus, later when Hiashi sells her out to Sasuke, leading to her (temporay) death, then, when she's revived and Orochimaru attacks the Leaf, he...sends assassins to murder her and Naruto while they are recovering in the hospital, for no real reason either. Not to mention when Hinata challenges him for control over the clan, he plans to kill her if she loses.**

**I really don't get it and clashes with canon, A LOT, but I won't change anything, as this is a reading fic, I'm just stating my opinion**


	4. Hiatus

You probably saw this coming, I'll be one hiatus indefintly, my senior year of school is winding down and I'm having less and less free time, coupled with a general lack of intrest in writing I've been having more and more trouble finding the energy to do this. Hopefully I'll be able to come back when I have more time.

I do have an unfinished draft of the next chapter, which you can see below.

**I do not own Naruto and thanks to Kyuubi123 for the awesome story**

It was hard to say exactly how much time had passed, as the last chapter's revelation had shocked everyone.

"He was always hard on her...much harder then should be acceptable...but to put the seal on her..." Sarutobi was in a mixed state of fury, fear, and sadness.

"That seal is an abomnination...it should never of been created" Jiraiya, as a seal master, knew something about any seal, and knew what the Caged Bird seal could do.

Minato solemny picked up the fallen book, "We...we should keep reading...things have to get better, and there's not much we can do"

With absent minded consent, Minato flipped to the next chapter and read.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**Naruto and Shino were stunned by the look of utter despair and loss that was in Hinata's eyes.**

That summned up the feelings of everyone present

**They saw none of the joy or happiness that was usually present in her eyes. All they saw was pain, despair, and an utter lack of feeling. Her eyes almost appeared dead. They were at a complete loss of what to do or what was wrong. Hinata failed to answer any questions that either of them asked. She simply kept her head down and refused to say anything. Naruto and Shino were equally confused and sad. What could have happened to their friend to cause such behavior?**

Everyone merely lowered their heads, they knew what had happened, but knowing didn't make it any better

**Neither Hinata's demeanor nor her attitude changed throughout the day. She didn't talk to either of the boys at lunch, or during class. Her efforts in taijutsu, ninjutsu, and genjutsu were abysmal; it was as if she had no will to even try. Any questions that the boys asked were met with silence or a sob of grief. Naruto tried everything he could to cheer her up, but all of his efforts had failed. When the day came to an end the boys knew as much then about her behavior as they did at the beginning of class, absolutely nothing. When it came time for the children to leave, the boys noticed that Hinata hadn't moved an inch.**

"I highly doubt she wants to go home...wherever that is now" Jiraiya said solemnly

**"Hinata, aren't you going to go home?" Naruto asked.**

**Hinata said nothing but she seemed to shrink even further into herself.**

**"Hinata let's go." A voice called out.**

**The boy's turned to see a beautiful woman with long black hair and ruby red eyes. She was dressed in what appeared to be white wrappings that went down to just above her knees. Her top looked like a white vest over a fishnet shirt that had one sleeve cut off and the other sleeve was blood red and came down to her wrist. Neither of the boys had ever seen her before.**

Sarutobi smiled a bit, "Kurenai" Was all he said

**"Who are you?" Naruto asked suspiciously.**

**"My name is Kurenai Yuhi. And I'm here to pick up Hinata." She said. Hinata walked up to her without raising her head and walked out with the woman who seemed to be trying to comfort her.**

**"Shino, what the heck do you think is wrong with Hinata. I mean she didn't say a word to us all day." Naruto asked perplexed and saddened by his best friend's actions.**

"It's hard for her, that poor girl" Minato said

**"I don't know Naruto. There is probably more to the situation than we understand. We can only be there for her, give her space, and hope that she either gets over what troubles her or asks us for help." Shino said.**

"It most cases that would be helpful...but given what we've seen of Hinata's personality" Kushina left the rest unsaid

**"Yeah I guess." Naruto replied, not at all feeling good about the situation or the inability to do anything about it.**

All four could synpanise with that, it sucked to know there was problem, yet be completely helpless.


End file.
